


She Loves Me!

by sing_no_more



Category: Naruto
Genre: Crying, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/F, Falling In Love, Fluff, Letters, Love, Love Confessions, i suck at tags shhhh, i suppose thats what they do, self doubt, tears of joy, theres a mention of Sasuke but thats it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-11
Updated: 2019-06-11
Packaged: 2020-04-24 11:52:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,628
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19172737
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sing_no_more/pseuds/sing_no_more
Summary: Ino has been in the hospital for almost a week now, and she has been nothing but bored out of her mind. One day Sakura visits her and tells her something she's always wanted to hear.





	She Loves Me!

**Author's Note:**

> First of all, thank you for reading this!! :)) Also I'm not very good with lots of fluff and stuff so tell me if you have a tip for me to improve or just how you felt about the fic in general! I love to hear from readers. Enjoy!

It had been almost a week since Ino was admitted to the hospital and all the sitting around was beginning to get on her nerves. She had been stabbed directly above her stomach, had two broken ribs and one broken leg, a fracture in her knee, and had suffered from some internal bleeding upon first being admitted; that combination leads to a slow healing process the doctor had told her. 

Ino was recently deployed on a mission to a town near the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Sand. A small group of rogue ninjas had recently set up a base nearby and were believed to have been planning a threatening attack against Konoha. Ino and her teammates, Choji and Shikamaru, had located the ninja’s and were forced into a fight despite their original orders and intent. 

The three fought well despite the rogue ninja’s apparent great strength. After a long and exhausting battle, the ninjas were defeated and the trio was exhausted and had suffered many injuries, Ino’s being the worst.

Upon reaching the village, Ino was forced into the hospital by Lady Tsunade who then treated her wounds and left her to heal, promising her that she would be stuck there for at least a week and a half, bedridden due to the broken bones that refused to allow her to walk. 

Within a few days, Ino was already bored and ready to get out. The lack of new places to go and people to see made her feel very alone and annoyed. Choji, Shikamaru, and her family had visited a few times but she was quickly becoming bothered and tired of the same few presences all the time. 

“It’s such a drag that you’re stuck here for another week.” Shikamaru sighed. 

“It really is… I wish I could leave, or at least see some new faces. No offense to you guys, but I’m so bored here.” Ino said, leaning back on the hospital bed and staring at the ceiling lazily. 

“No, I get it…” Choji added, “Oh yeah, almost forgot, Tsunade is sending us on another mission later today, that’s why we’re here right now actually, to say bye before we go. I think we will be gone longer than a week.” 

“You are? Dang, I know I was complaining about you guys constantly being here but I still don’t want to lose the only faces that show up now.” 

“I know, sorry about it.” Shikamaru shrugged. He appeared to be unsympathetic but they all knew he really meant the condolences, “Well, we better be going. Bye Ino, we’ll see you soon.”

He walked out of the room whilst waving and waited outside for Choji to follow. Choji gave Ino a big smile and a goodbye before running out of the room to follow Shikamaru. And just as it was before, Ino was alone once more. 

She let out a deep sigh and slumped back on the bed. She closed her eyes and fell into a light, boredom-induced sleep. Time passed as Ino slept, suddenly the door was opened and Ino sat up, excited just a bit too much by the possibility of a chance to speak to someone new. 

“Ino?” a voice said. 

Ino turned her head to the door and saw a pink haired girl standing in the doorframe. She recognized her as her old friend and current rival, Sakura Haruno. 

“Friend” and “Rival” were the two words she had been using to describe Sakura but deep down Ino had better words. Such as “Crush” for instance. Ever since the two had met, Ino had always felt some form of romantic feelings towards Sakura. Something about her was just too difficult to resist. 

Unfortunately, the pair grew apart and Sakura fell in love with someone else, Sasuke Uchiha. In a strange twist of events, Ino had somehow convinced everyone that she too was in love with Sasuke, that way she would never have to deal with the pain of having one-sided feelings for Sakura. 

In the past few years, the two had grown closer once again and the old feelings within Ino were awakened. 

“Yeah?” Ino answered, trying to hide her obvious smile that appeared on her lips when she made eye contact with her old friend. 

“I was helping other patients in this hall when I saw Shikamaru and Choji, and they told me you were here.” She said sweetly. 

Ino smiled slightly, that voice, she thought, oh wow I love that voice.

“Why didn’t you tell me you were in the hospital?” Sakura frowned, her tone shifted to a mix of worries and irritations. 

Ino was touched, yes Sakura’s voice revealed her to be irritated, but she also seemed worried that Ino had not spoken to her about the incident. Ino felt her heart beat faster, does Sakura really care about me? Her mind wandered, No of course not, I’m just being weird.

Ino turned away and pouted, “Why do you care, forehead-girl?” She joked, crossing her arms across her chest. 

“I care because you’re my friend, dummy. And also because I…” Sakura trailed off and looked down. 

“You what?” 

“I… I love you,” Sakura muttered.

Despite the inaudibility of the words, Ino managed to hear them loud and clear. She stood shocked for a moment, frozen with her mouth hanging open, “You… you what?” she whispered.

“I love yo-” Sakura began before being interrupted.

A nurse walked into the room, “There you are! You must come quick, a patient needs you.” The nursed beckoned to Sakura and gave her no chance to react before pulling her from the room and closing the door behind her. 

“Did she just say...” Ino whispered, a smile appearing on her face, “Oh Shit, she said she loves me.” 

She clamped her hand over her mouth to silence her laughs of glee. Surely I must have misheard that? She thought, There’s no way that’s true. But at the same time… 

Ino fell back against her pillow. A large smile plastered against her face that refused to disappear. Time passed and Ino stayed still, part of her feared the chance that she was dreaming but the half not consumed by worries stayed elated and carefree. As the opposing sides of her fought, Ino drifted yet again into a deep sleep. 

Ino woke up to the strong smell of flowers. She slowly sat up and noticed her previously barren hospital room was packed full of vases of flowers. 

Ino looked around, confused and in search of any clue or explanation of what was going on. She glanced over to the side table and saw a neatly folded paper, the top of it read her name in blue ink. 

She reached over and took the note, she carefully unfolded it and read, 

“Dear Ino,  
I was a bit rushed but what I said earlier was true. I love you, Ino. I always have, ever since we were kids, there was always a part of me that loved you. I know I lost my way but my feelings stayed. I’m so sorry I never told you before and I’m so sorry I’m not here to be saying these words to you right now, duty calls so I hope this will work for now. I hope later we can meet up and talk about this, even though I am sure that you do not feel the same. At least it is off my chest. I’ll be in your room at noon tomorrow if that’s okay with you.  
-Sakura 🖤 “  
Ino set down the letter and looked around the room again: flowers were everywhere, specifically flowers from her parent’s shop. She let out a small laugh and smiled. She was excited by this new information and the note Sakura had left her. Noon tomorrow? She thought, Can’t wait.

She leaned back and looked around the room at the various flowers. She took notice of the red carnations and the various colors of Tulips that took up the majority of the room’s flower stock. Ino smiled, she thought of how adorable Sakura was for choosing those flowers in particular, for they were supposed to represent love to western cultures. 

Suddenly Ino was struck with confusion, why did Sakura learn the meanings of those flowers? Did she even know what they mean or was that all a coincidence? Ino thought for a moment before being transported back in time to when they were all much younger, probably no more than thirteen. 

It was an average day, Ino had no missions so she was helping her mother out in the flower shop. She was sitting at the counter when the sound of a small bell rang, notifying her of the arrival of a new customer. 

“Hello! Welcome to- oh wait it’s just you, Sakura. What are you doing here?” 

“So mean,” she teased, “I just need some flowers. Specifically, ones that represent love, can you help me?” She looked down, slightly embarrassed. 

“I, uh, sure, I suppose. Who are these flowers for?” Ino asked, stepping out from behind the counter. 

“Um… “ 

“Let me guess, Sasuke?” 

“You don’t know that!” Sakura pouted. 

“C’ mon Sakura, we all know you’re in love with Sasuke and you just want him all to yourself,” Ino replied, trying tease the other girl. 

“Just help me get the damn flowers, Ino-pig.” Sakura huffed, crossing her arms across her chest. 

“Call me that again, forehead girl.” 

Ino walked towards a stand full of flowers. Sakura, believing she was denied service huffed once again and turned to leave. 

“Hey wait, where are you going?” Ino asked, turning around with a large bouquet of flowers.

“Oh, I thought you weren’t going to help me…”

“Of course I will. Sure I don’t exactly want to, I can’t have you stealing Sasuke like that, but my mom would be angry to know I let a customer go unserviced. So here, use these, they’re not the best flowers but they’ll get the point across.” She winked and held out the flowers to Sakura. 

The two walked back to the counter where Sakura pulled out a small coin pouch and paid then left the store. Ino was left alone in the room to carry on with her activities prior to Sakura’s invasion. 

Ino was transported back to the present. She was back in the hospital bed and the flowers of her mother’s shop were replaced with the ones Sakura had brought earlier. 

She smiled warmly, things were so simple back then. Sakura was sweet as ever but Ino made to attempt towards her, nor did Ino even accept the feelings she felt towards her friend. Instead, she insulted and made Sakura her rival. 

Of course, that reflection was not the best time to think of as “good times” but something in Ino’s mind had made her view the old days as heartwarming and a time of purity. Perhaps it was the growth the two had experienced that made her feel that way, she decided. 

Thoughts of Sakura filled Ino’s mind as she waited out the rest of her day. She figured it would be better to just sleep until Sakura’s arrival but she quickly came to the realization that her excitement would keep her awake. 

Despite the initial excitement, boredom soon took hold of her mind as she once again drifted into a boredom-induced sleep. 

Images of Sakura flooded her mind, memories replayed throughout her mind as well as scenes that seemed to have never occurred. Ino, positively, chose to think of those as the future, rather than the experiences she was never able to experience, which they could easily be. 

Soon enough Ino opened her eyes as she came to the realization of being back in the hospital bed. She looked over at the clock on the wall and saw that it was almost an hour until noon. She smiled excitedly. 

All she had to do now was wait, which she supposed was quite boring but the prospect of seeing Sakura and getting to talk about their true feelings kept her going. She stood up and hopped around the room, flinching, whilst looking at the various flowers she had been brought. 

An hour later, Ino heard the door crack open. She whipped her head around and saw Sakura standing in the door frame. She looked almost scared for a moment. The two made eye contact and Sakura’s fear turned into anger.

“Why are you standing up?” She scolded, “You need to stay in bed, otherwise your legs will never heal.”

“I wanted to see the flowers you brought me. They’re beautiful and I like their meanings together.” Ino said with a quick wink.

Sakura blushed and mumbled, “Cute,” She then cleared her throat and began again, “But you really should be laying down. Don’t you ever want to get out of here?” 

Ino thought for a moment, “I’ll sit down if you talk to me more about what you were saying yesterday.”

Sakura’s eyes widened, she was caught off guard, “Uh… Sure.” She slowly walked over to Ino and forced her to sit back on the bed, “So, um…”

Ino laughed softly, “I believe I heard you say something about a certain feeling you felt towards me? What was it again? Hm, Sakura?” 

Sakura blushed and looked down at her lap as she took a seat next to Ino on the bed. Ino smiled and eyed the pink haired girl next to her. She nudged her lightly. 

“Stop mocking me,” Sakura muttered, “I’m trying to be serious here.” She pouted her face.

“Oh, no I’m not mocking you, I swear Sakura. I’ll try to act more seriously, but please, tell me how you’re truly feeling.” 

Sakura shifted awkwardly, “I’m really sorry if this ruins everything we have but… I think I love you, Ino. Everything about you, you’re just so amazing.” 

Ino sat in silent shock. Of course, Sakura technically had already said all of that yesterday, and once again in her letter, but something about the way it was said now in the current situation made it ten times better to Ino. 

“I’m sorry…” Sakura began as she stood up to leave, fearing she had ruined everything. 

Ino looked up and grabbed her arm. She looked Sakura in the eye and said, “No, don’t go, please. You didn’t ruin anything, I promise.” 

Sakura opened her mouth but no words could come out before Ino began again, “I actually need to be honest as well,” She swallowed, “I love you as well, Sakura. I have for the longest time now and I don’t think you know how happy I am to hear you say those words to me.”

Ino smiled as a tear ran down her cheek. She was finally able to tell Sakura her feelings and the joy she felt was overwhelming. 

“I- I’m glad to hear you say that as well,” Sakura whispered, sitting back down. She wiped the tear from Ino’s face and smiled, “So, um, where do we go from here?” 

“We could start by going out one day?” Ino asked. Her eyes widened in worry as she quickly added, “If you want to, of course.”

“Of course I do, Ino-pig.” She answered.

Ino laughed, “Good to know, forehead-girl.” 

The two sat together for a few minutes, planning a date and talking about how nice it was to get their feelings off their chests. Time went by fast and before they knew it a nurse came in to call away Sakura. The two parted ways reluctantly and Ino was left alone once again. But this time she felt no loneliness, now all she felt was happiness and excitement. She fell asleep quickly, sweet thoughts of Sakura filling her mind.


End file.
